National pride

The climb to national status can be varied, and, as Grania Langdon-Down finds out, firms have differing views as to the necessities for such acclaim

The labels for law firms are growing apace.

We have global firms, international firms, European firms, City firms, national firms, regional firms and finally those poor practices which are cursed with just one office.The idea of a national firm is one of the more contentious labels.

Earlier this month, Northampton-based Shoosmiths cut loose its Banbury office in Oxfordshire after 47 years because it no longer fits with its 'strategic' plan of becoming a leading national firm (see [2002] Gazette, 5 April, 4).

But what makes a national firm?While senior lawyers may give different weight to the importance of locations of offices, client base, practice areas and profitability in developing a national profile, the one thing they agree on is that size is not everything.Paul Stothard, group head of operations at Shoosmiths, becomes its chief executive from 1 May.

With seven offices in Northampton, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Reading, Basingstoke and Fareham by the Solent, the firm has 71 partners, focuses on commercial, financial institutions and personal injury work, and turns over about 45 million a year.Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it has no physical presence in the north, he says: 'From our point of view, national is determined more by your clients than where you have offices.

We have clients in Belfast, Wales, the north-west and what matters is your ability to respond to their demands.'Mr Stothard accepts the firm still has some way to go to be recognised as a leading national practice.

'Critical mass is seen as the main indicator of national standing by both the profession and by clients.

It is an indication of your credibility, your ability to service clients' needs and to compete for work.'We recognise it is difficult to sustain a credible presence when you are fielding fairly thin teams.

We have work to do in that area, in client management and, to put it bluntly, in profitability.

It is a war for talent out there, and while you can say what a lovely firm you are and what lovely places you have offices, attracting highly talented lawyers still boils down to money.

Unless you are profitable, you can't afford those top people.'Attaining a national profile is a gradual process, according to Mr Stothard: 'I think we could start claiming a national profile over the last two years.

It is in no way decrying local work and we are not saying we are going to drop our valued local clients, but it is about broadening our focus.

It is an upward spiral - you look for better-quality work, better people, better profits - the opposite of that is frightening.'For Julian Tonks, senior partner of Pinsent Curtis Biddle, 'the key issue is probably London.

Some people don't like the title "national firm", but I am reasonably comfortable with it and would include ourselves, Eversheds, Hammonds Suddards Edge and DLA'.

Don't tell Eversheds or DLA, however - they have been busy rebranding themselves in recent years further up the label ladder, with Eversheds calling itself a global firm and DLA international.'There are then those which are not national but are big, such as Wragge & Co and Addleshaw Booth & Co,' Mr Tonks continues.

'They are moving towards being national but still don't have much of a presence in London.'From Mr Tonks' perspective, there are four key locations - London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

Funnily enough, Pinsents completed its collection of offices in those cities by opening in Manchester in January.He says: 'I don't think there are any other places you need to be.

Having a number of offices is quite important for clients with national operations.

Foreign corporates often tend to have a spread of operations across the UK and they like to have them serviced close to hand, particularly for things like employment advice.

It also potentially gives you an advantage in being able to service clients' requirements at lower cost locations.'He maintains that none of the national firms is yet in a position to call itself European (another one not to tell Eversheds or DLA) - although he says firms are working towards it because that is what clients want.For John Crabtree, senior partner of Wragge & Co, it remains firm in his belief that the practice can have a national profile despite concentrating its staff in one office - with 1,120 in Birmingham, about 20 in London and five in Brussels.Mr Crabtree dismisses recent reports that Wragges is going to launch new City groups in a shift in strategy.

'We still have the same office space in London we had two years ago and no decisions have been made to build up other markets there.'The world is getting smaller not bigger.

Clients like a very singular service from their lawyers.

If they are getting it from more than one geographical office, it is likely to be different.

I don't feel you need to have a large London office or an office in Manchester or Leeds to have a credible claim to be a national firm.

We are doing work for at least 37 of the FTSE 100 companies and I can't believe any of them think of us as being in the Midlands market place.

It is the depth of work and depth of skills that marks you out.'Paul Thomas is managing partner of Halliwell Landau, described by one directory as the largest independent commercial firm in the north-west, and which he describes as national.He says: 'We have quadrupled in size over the last five years.

Our turnover in 1996 was 8 million while it will be over 30 million this year.

Our main office is in Manchester but we have a rapidly expanding office in London and one in Sheffield.'He maintains that claiming a national profile comes down to a mixture of things.

'With increased communications, location is becoming a less significant factor.

However, a London profile is very important, particularly if you are interested in attracting overseas business.

It is not impossible but it is much more difficult if you are solely based in Manchester.'For Irwin Mitchell, which has expanded from its Sheffield base to Leeds, Birmingham and London, national ambitions are a natural result of organic growth and gaining bigger clients.

The big problem is in London, where 10% of the firm's 60 million turnover is generated and to where senior partner Michael Napier has relocated full-time to give it a further boost.'It is difficult to claim national status unless you have a serious London presence,' he says.

'It shifts the centre of gravity and the perception that the firm is northern-based.' It is important, he adds, to have partners and staff willing to move from office to office to assist the growth strategy, while 'IT makes the whole thing much more doable'.Mark Jones, managing partner of Addleshaw Booth & Co, says the practice started describing itself as a national firm about a year ago.

'Our thinking was that realistically one couldn't describe oneself as national without a material London presence.'What made the change was when our London office got to the point where it had a credibility of its own.'He says that, beyond certain limits, being a national firm is not to do with your office network, saying: 'We take the view that we can be a national firm with offices in London, Leeds and Manchester.

To us, it makes no difference whether or not we have offices in Newcastle or Nottingham.

The key point is client base, capability and, in particular, service line delivery.'By way of example, he describes his firm's building society clients: 'We act for 39 of the 66 or so, including nine of the top ten.

One of those nine is the Woolwich, whose office is south of London.

The fact that our building societies advisory unit is headquartered out of Leeds doesn't stop us delivering the service wherever it is required.'Another vital component in being a national firm is having a European and an international capability, he says.'The only issue is how you resource it and in our case, we have selected five or six European jurisdictions where our current client base needs a meaningful presence and have developed a relationship with one or two law firms in each one to give clients that coverage.'For David Ansbro, managing partner of Eversheds, his firm has gone through the national barrier to become an international firm in just 13 years.

'By 1993/94 we were clearly a national firm,' he says.'To be called that, you have to have national coverage and a strong London base.

To go on to become an international firm, you need to have a presence in the major European economies.'Our geographical spread must be our strength.

Certainly our north American clients, which have subsidiaries spread around the UK, find our geographic coverage very attractive.'In a European economy, he says: 'You have to have a very strong presence in London and that has to be backed up by a strong presence in the UK's major regional centres.'In terms of size, London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff are our largest offices.

But size isn't everything - it's the quality of people in those offices and of the clients they serve.'Or as Mr Evershed may have said when he formed Eversheds & Tompkinson in 1914, 'today Birmingham, tomorrow the world'.Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance journalist